Most People Killed by Brazil Police Are Black, Report Finds
Society
Key Facts
—The headline. Across nine states, 86.3% of the 4,330 people killed by police in 2025 were Black, according to the report.
—The gap. On average, a Black person is four times more likely to be killed by police than a white person.
—São Paulo. Black residents are 40.9% of the state’s population but 64.6% of those killed by police, 499 of 834 victims.
—The young. Nearly two-thirds of victims, some 2,804 people, were aged 29 or under, and 310 were children or adolescents.
—The trend. Police killings rose 6.4% from 2024, with São Paulo and three other states at record highs since 2019.
—The source. The figures come from the seventh annual “Pele Alvo” report by the Network of Security Observatories.
A new study of Brazil police killings finds that the great majority of those who die at the hands of the police are Black. The pattern holds across every state the researchers examined.
The report, released on July 1, counted four thousand three hundred and thirty deaths from police action across nine states in 2025. Of those victims, more than eight in ten were Black.
For a reader abroad, the figure is stark on its own. But it also points to something deeper about how public safety works in Latin America’s largest country, and who pays its price.
What the Brazil police killings report shows
The study is the seventh yearly edition of a report called “Pele Alvo”, which translates as “skin as a target.” It is produced by the Network of Security Observatories, a research body linked to the Centre for Studies on Security and Citizenship.
Researchers gathered the data through freedom-of-information requests to state security departments. The nine states covered are Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão, Pará, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
As reported by Brazil’s Agência Brasil, the total was six point four percent higher than in 2024. The researchers stress that the racial pattern held even as the wider dynamics of violence shifted.
The headline finding is that Black Brazilians, counted here as those the national statistics agency classes as Black or mixed race, made up about eighty-six percent of the dead. That is far above their share of the general population.
The victims were also overwhelmingly young. Roughly two-thirds were twenty-nine or under, and more than three hundred were children or teenagers, a detail the authors say points to a lost generation in poor neighbourhoods.
São Paulo and the shape of the gap
The clearest way to see the disparity is to compare a group’s share of the population with its share of the dead. In the state of São Paulo, Black residents are about forty-one percent of the population.
Yet they accounted for nearly sixty-five percent of the people killed by police there last year, four hundred and ninety-nine of eight hundred and thirty-four victims. In plain terms, a minority of the population makes up a clear majority of the deaths.
Across all nine states, the report calculates that a Black person is on average four times more likely to be killed by police than a white one. In Pernambuco the multiple reaches eleven, and in Rio de Janeiro it is six.
The researchers argue that this consistency, state after state, is what makes racism central to understanding police lethality rather than an incidental feature of it.
A rising trend and a contested response
The overall toll is climbing. The 2025 figure was about six percent higher than the year before, and São Paulo, Ceará, Maranhão and Pará all recorded their highest counts since the series began in 2019.
The authors also link shifting patterns in the north and northeast to the spread of criminal groups such as the Comando Vermelho and the First Capital Command, whose expansion has reshaped violence in several states.
State authorities push back on the framing. The Rio de Janeiro government said deaths from police intervention had fallen this year, citing figures that showed the lowest total for the period since 2014.
Pernambuco’s security department said its forces follow technical and legal standards and do not use skin colour as a criterion for action. Not all nine states responded to the researchers before publication.
What do the Brazil police killings figures actually measure?
They count deaths caused by police action in nine states during 2025, drawn from official security-department records obtained through freedom-of-information requests. The report totals four thousand three hundred and thirty such deaths, of which about eighty-six percent were Black victims.
Is São Paulo becoming a majority-Black city?
It is not, because Black residents are only about forty-one percent of São Paulo state’s population and are not the majority. The forty-one percent figure appears in the report to contrast that population share with the much higher Black share of police-killing victims.
How did the states respond to the report?
Rio de Janeiro said police-intervention deaths had fallen to their lowest level for the period since 2014, and Pernambuco said its forces do not use skin colour as a basis for action. Several of the nine states did not respond before the report was published.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of people killed by police in Brazil in 2025 were Black?
According to the 'Pele Alvo' report, 86.3% of the 4,330 people killed by police across nine states in 2025 were Black. On average, a Black person is four times more likely to be killed by police than a white person.
How does São Paulo compare to its overall population in terms of police killings of Black residents?
Black residents make up 40.9% of São Paulo's population, yet they account for 64.6% of those killed by police in the state. That amounts to 499 of the 834 victims recorded there.
What is the 'Pele Alvo' report and who produces it?
'Pele Alvo,' which translates as 'skin as a target,' is an annual report on police killings in Brazil, with the 2025 edition being its seventh yearly release. It is produced by the Network of Security Observatories, a research body linked to the Centre for Studies on Security and Citizenship.
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